THE EFFECT OF HUMAN SEX HORMONES ON THE GROWTH AND MATURATION OF C.

IMMITIS
Kathryn Choo - Santa Clara University

INTRODUCTION RESULTS RESULTS CONCLUSIONS

Coccidioides immitis is a pathogenic fungus most popular for its virulent

role in causing “Valley Fever”, a fungal disease endemic in certain parts of the •Morphological findings with electron
United States southwestern region. C. immitis epidemiological specificity in desert Experiment 1.
areas of the United States including parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, microscope reveals dense septum-associated
Texas and Utah is a result of the fungus rich soil where the fungus can grow and
thrive. The mechanism of infection occurs when disruption of this soil caused by bodies that are similar to Woronin antibodies
farming or even natural destruction such as earthquakes, release the spores of the
fungus and then enter the host through inhalation. These dimorphic pathogens
which make them share both characteristics of
evade the immune systems of infected organisms that cause severe lung disease
and can potentially spread to parts of the body causing skin lesions and other life
Deuteromycota (asexual) and Ascomycota.
threatening complications in untreated. .
Aside from the unique epidemiological phenomenon of C. immitis •The old reference of C. Immitis as “imperfect
pathogenicity, other interesting factors have been discovered in showing a possible
increased virulence of the fungus in human hosts. One of these factors includes fungi” has continued to confuse taxonomist,
findings of increased growth and maturation in the presence of human sex
hormones such as beta active estradiol, progesterone and testosterone. The effects however recent studies have labeled C. Immitis
of human sex hormones on the fungal growth has been suggested to correlate
directly with increased pathogenicity seen in pregnant women (especially in third as asexual forms of “ascomycetes”proposing
trimester) and men because of their high levels of these hormones. Is it viable that
these human sex hormones could play such a significant role in fungal growth or
that C. immitis could mistaken human sex
are these statistics solely due to low immune responses? Scientist have yet to
actually confirm a direct correlation between sex hormones and its prominent role
hormones for their own mating hormones
in C. immitis growth, however past studies and an still yet an undetermined life
cycle/taxonomy of the fungus continue to make this topic a possible hypotheses to
which they use.
think about in increased virulence seen in patients with “Valley
Fever”(Coccidiomycosis).
Figure 3. Growth response (logio micrometers cubed) of C. immitis strain C60
•Experiments reveal a definite increase in
arthroconidia to 1 7a-estradiol ), 1 7,3-estradiol (,3), pM)as a function of
time;n=100 for all determinations.
logathrithmic growth and spherule maturation
size in the presence of specific sex hormones:
Figure 5. Percentage of spherules showing full maturation (stage S or stage S H, Fig. 2)
after 5 to 6 days of exposure to 10-6 M tamoxifen (T), nafoxidine (N), or 17,8-estradiol beta estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone.
(,8); n = 100 for all determinations. P values (versus control for each time period): C60
arthroconidia (T 1, P < 0.001; T, P < 0.001); C599 endospores (N T, P < 0.005;,8 T, P <
0.001); C566 arthroconidia (T ,, P < 0.001); C566 endospores (/8 T,P < 0.001).
•Furthermore, experiments performed proves
that C. immitis has a increasingly higher
Experiment 2 binding affinity for human sex hormones
compared to several other strains tested.

Figure 1. Microscopic view of Figure 2. Life cycle of Dimorphic fungus

culture C. Immitis in pathogenic Coccidioides immitis.
sporulated form.

REFERENCES

METHODS
Cutler, Jim E., and Keith H. Erke. "Ultrastructural
Figure 6. Septum of Coccidioides immitis. Electron-dense Woronin-like
Characteristics of Coccidioides Immitis, a
Three separate experiments performed by different researchers all combine to
the overall support of increased infection of coccidiomyocosis seen in pregnant bodies indicated by arrows. Bar indicates 1.0 AM.
Morphological Variant of Cryptococcus Neoformans
women and men due to human sex hormone levels effects on fungal growth and and Podosypha Ravenelli V." Journal of Bacteriology
maturation.
105.1 (1971): 438-44. Print.
Experiment 1 Powell, Bernard L., David J. Drutz, Milton Huppert,
In 1981 Researchers at the University of Texas measured the effects of
different sex hormones on the growth and maturation of C. immitis along with a
and Sung H. Sun. "Relationship of Progesterone- and
few other strains to test if it solely effects C. immitis. Along with the testing of Estradiol-Binding Proteins in Coccidioides Immitis to
sex hormones: testosterone, progesterone, and 17beta-estradiol, they also used
controls of the fungus in a compound with only ethanol or distilled water. Other Coccidioidal Dissemination in Pregnancy." Infection
test they performed included measuring the effects of sterols without sex hormone
activity (cholesterol and ergosterol) and non-steroidal anti-estrogens (tamoxifen
and Immunity 40.2 (1983): 478-85. Print.
and nafoxidine) to confirm the positive results of the sex hormones. They
obtained data of the logarithmic growth under these different conditions, Drutz, David J., Milton Huppert, Sung H. Sun, and
maturation percentage and also analyzed spore size.
William L. McGuire. "Human Sex Hormones
Experiment 2
Stimulate Growth and Maturation of Coccidioides
Exactly a decade before this experiment, in 1971, researchers at Tulane
University School of Medicine performed an experiment, obtaining electronic Immits." Infection and Immunity 32.2 (1981): 897-
microscopic images of the morphological structure of C. immitis. Their findings
on the structure of C. immitis provided more information allowing researchers to
907. Print.
study better the “imperfect” taxonomy of the fungus.
Experiment 3
Pan, Shuchong, Lynee Sigler, and Garry T. Cole.
An experiment performed in 1983 by the same researchers at the University
"Evidence for Phylogenetic Connection between
of Texas, further supported the relationship between sex hormones and its effect Coccidioides Immitis and Uncinocarpus Reesii
on C. immitis growth. They performed an experiment testing the binding affinity
of different fungal strains focusing on C. immitis cytosol on the different sex (Onygenaceae)." Microbiology 140 (1994): 1481-494.
hormones that showed positive effects on its fungal growth.
Print.

Figure 4. Comparative size of spherules developing from C. immitis

strain C60 arthroconidia after 48 h of exposure to 17/3-estradiol (10-6 Table 1. Quantitative specific binding of tritiated ligands to cytosols of
M)or magnification of 900x; bar, 10 ,m. various fungi